Elect II—12 Christmas Break, part 2 of 3

December 20, 2016December 6, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Emily’s Mom and Dad picked her up at the airport and had a passenger that was not her younger brother Tyler. “Sweetheart,” Mom yelled and embarrassed her with all the hugging and kissing. “Your room is all clean and waiting for your return. I decided your friend could sleep in the spare bed in your room rather than in David’s room since David might come home, you know.” David was in the National Guard and had been deployed overseas twice in the last thirteen months. There was talk his unit might come home for Christmas, but as far as Emily could tell it was only talk.

“My friend?”

“Cassandra. Cassandra Riverbend,” Mom said and whispered, “I feel terrible about her having nowhere to go during the holidays, what with her mother being away and all.”

“Riverbend,” Emily repeated the name and turned her head to see a beautiful girl in jeans, a plain top and a purple winter cape which was altogether too formal and out of place. She had black hair down to her belt. As she returned the look, she pushed her hair behind human looking ears, and straightened her glasses, which Emily thought was an odd touch.

Emily carried her bag to the bench where her dad and Riverbend were waiting. She hugged her dad and then turned to the girl with the word, “Riverbend,” and gave the girl a hug while she whispered in the girl’s ear, “What is this all about?”

“Later,” Riverbend whispered back as she straightened her glasses again, much like Maria might have done. Emily picked up her bag and they walked to the car, Mom and Dad out front, but Emily decided she could not wait until later.

“Captain Riverbend?” Emily wanted to be sure.

Riverbend nodded and got a big elf grin. “You like my disguise? I thought of the glasses myself.”

“Lovely,” Emily could not help returning the smile, knowing she was walking beside a real live elf, and one who seemed friendly enough.

“I thought of Clark Kent, but that would be a boy’s name.”

“Uh-huh. Cassandra?”

“An ancient name for my goddess, the one you call Zoe.”

“Uh-huh. And why are you here?”

“To help, if I can. Sir Roland told all about the bogy in August, and the attempts on your life over Thanksgiving. Lady Alice, the one you call Zoe said you should be watched while you are home. I volunteered.” Riverbend got that elf grin again.

“Like you volunteered to come storming into the gym that afternoon.”

“Yes, Emily. Can I call you Emily or do you prefer your majesty?”

“Better make it Emily,” Emily said. “In fact when we get home you better tell me exactly how much time you have spent on earth among people.”

“Oh, almost none,” Riverbend happily admitted. Emily was afraid that was true. She decided she might end up spending more time watching out for Riverbend than the other way around. They walked in silence for a minute until Emily could see the car up ahead. “You know we will be going to church, probably several times.”

Riverbend stiffened a little. “I am prepared for that.”

“Girls?” Mom tossed the word over her shoulder when they reached the car. “What are you girls discussing.”

“Going to church,” Emily volunteered, and thought to add, “Riverbend is not a Christian, you know.”

“Oh?” Emily’s mom looked at the girl as if trying to discern what she was.

“Taoist,” Riverbend offered. “I was raised in China, but I am familiar with the Christians and Christian teaching. I won’t mind going to church.”

“How interesting,” Emily’s mom said as she got in the front and Riverbend got in the back. Emily put her suitcase in the trunk which her dad slammed shut, and then they got in as well. Emily looked at Riverbend again. She was not worried about her claiming to be a Taoist. She knew someone else might try to convert the poor heathen, but Mom was a true Presbyterian. She was only thinking about the feather in her cap for bringing a Taoist to church and would not dream of trying to change her. Mom lived for words like multi-culturalism and diversity. She believed anything else would be intolerant.

Emily just stared at the elf until Rivebend became uncomfortable and hid beneath her hair. When they got to the house, Emily got to ask another question before they went inside.

“How old are you?”

“One hundred and seventy-seven,” Riverbend answered. “That should make me appear twenty-four or so in human terms, but I have always looked young for my age. I could be nineteen if you like.”

Emily frowned. The girl offered to lie with such frank ease, Emily knew she would have to be extra careful with this one.

Elect II—12 Christmas Break, part 1 of 3

December 19, 2016December 5, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Ashish parked in the lot next to the donut shop and got out whistling Santa Clause is Coming to Town. He liked the colored lights that edged the shop. He stopped when he heard a deep guttural growl. Something was hidden in the dark of the lot.

A young girl ran up, but stopped on seeing the detective. Ashish imagined a young teen out wandering the neighborhood, and he became concerned about whatever produced that growl, but when he looked closely and revised his thought. He had to ask.

“Do you work for Santa?” The pointed ears on the cute thing were unmistakable.

“I wish,” the girl said and the growl came again. “Over here,” the girl yelled, and so many young people with pointed ears raced up and ran so fast, Ashish blinked and tears came to his eyes from the wind produced by their speed in passing.

Something dark and foreboding stood up between two parked cars. It looked big and ready to run, but one of the youngsters got a rope around it. Ashish heard a whine in place of the growl. They got two more ropes around the neck of the beast, whatever it was. It strained at the ropes, but people were yelling about holding it steady and not letting it go. Suddenly, a great flash of light made Ashish blink, and they all disappeared.

Ashish rubbed his eyes, and found the first young woman with the ears beside him. She curtsied, an exceptionally graceful thing considering she was in slacks, and she spoke.

“Merry Christmas, Detective Mousad.” She stepped back around the donut shop corner. When Ashish followed, he found that she had vanished.

“Merry Christmas,” he said, regardless, and he went back to whistling Santa Clause is Coming to Town while he stepped inside the shop.

###

Sara helped the girls pack for the Christmas holidays. The spider was dead. Maynard was put out of action and the poor students she experimented on were safely locked up for the present in the old hospital psych ward, while people worked on a more permanent solution. Curiously, President Batiste made no complaint about Emily handling the Maynard situation without calling campus security first.

“The only thing unresolved is Lisa and her night creatures,” Maria pointed out.

“I wish I could stay here to help,” Emily said.

“I could maybe track them,” Jessica offered.

“If I focused, I might see them,” Amina said.

“Hush.” Sara talked to them all. “There has been no sign of them in a week, and you resolved all of your tasks and fought through your finals. You deserve some rest.”

“But we didn’t resolve anything!” Mindy shouted and everyone paused. Mindy was not normally one to raise her voice in frustration. She was seriously a genteel and petite southern belle who only squealed when she got happy or excited. In this case, though, she yelled as she stuffed way too much into her carry-on bag. “We have found no apples. We have found no door. And whatever big mystery Zoe wants us to solve remains unsolved. We don’t even have an inkling of what the mystery might be about!”

“Rest.” Sara responded. “Especially you living down in that cave day and night.” She pointed at Mindy.

“Besides,” Melissa whispered. “I thought you didn’t like the cold.” The New Jersey weather had turned to freezing in December. A little moisture and they might have some snow. Mindy nodded, but said nothing. South Carolina weather was much nicer that time of year.

Emily also said nothing, but she was thinking.

“You should listen to the priestess,” Heinrich spoke up from the door. “I will help the good detective with her night creatures. You all need to rest.” He stood there with one finger laid against his nose. He had also let his beard grow and was looking once again like the proverbial Santa Clause. Emily stepped over and kissed the man’s cheek. The others followed and all gave him hugs as he continued to speak. “Your tribe all made it safely to the airport, but for Greta who got picked up by her parents.” Emily had just found out that Greta was Moravian and lived in Pennsylvania. She thought a Moravian was odd for one considering the military, but what did she know? “Natasha is safely on her way to Detroit, Diane is probably on the runway right now headed back to Kansas and Hilde is flying off to Syracuse. Just a puddle-jump flight.”

“I know,” Melissa said. “She does not live that far from me in Vermont. We talked about meeting somewhere over the holiday and maybe going skiing.”

“Very good.” Heinrich rubbed his hands together. “The airport caravan will be leaving in twenty minutes.” He looked at Sara who nodded. Twenty minutes was enough time.

Emily looked again at the note she found in her mail box from Bernie the campus cop. It said one word. She handed it to Mindy with a condition.

“Promise you won’t open this and read it until you are on the plane.” Mindy reached for it but Emily snatched it back. “Promise.”

Mindy looked like she was still angry about something, but settled herself. “Yes, majesty. I promise.” Mindy stuffed the paper in her purse.

Later that afternoon, when Mindy was safely on her way back to her warmer clime, she pulled the paper out and read the word, “Ambrosia.” Her eyes got big and she gasped her response.

“Of course!”

Elect II—11 No Earthly Creatures, part 3 of 3

December 14, 2016December 4, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Ashish was asleep at the wheel. Lisa waited in the passenger seat and kept her eyes on the house diagonally across the street. It looked like it was going to be another long night. The house was empty, but it was the logical one that would complete the circle around Lisa’s house. She only hoped the night creatures would commit themselves before they realized there was no one home.

Lisa thought again about the video taken by the cameras placed around the outside of the airport terminal. Ashish thought it was a donkey at first. Their normal walk looked rather stiff. And the sound they made was described as that of a baby crying. One woman thought it was a real baby and almost got herself eaten.

The last shot was taken from a distance and lit only by the runway lights. The scout stopped on the tarmac. The three that followed in a pack joined it and began to paw at the air. The rear guard caught up and they were growling and roaring in a way that one of the baggage handlers called louder and more frightening than a lion. The airport manager estimated that the spot where they converged was approximately the spot where a jet would leave the ground. They appeared to be frustrated, and Lisa breathed. She imagined they had no way to track Josh and the children through the air.

Lisa considered the notes Mindy put together. Mindy guessed the Set animals or night creatures were not likely of earthly origin. Their bones were like steel rods and their bodies were more like a shark than a mammal, being mostly cartilage and muscle. Their internal organs were more than well protected, and their jaws snapped shut with more force per square inch than any shark or alligator or anything else on earth. She suggested that they appeared to be from a world with a heavier gravity. That would make them supernaturally strong and fast on our earth.

Lisa pulled out her twin knives and then pulled out her handgun. She had a police shotgun as well, but even so she wondered if she brought enough hardware. She looked again at the house as her passenger window exploded.

The jaws snapped at her, but Lisa managed to get far enough away by crashing into Ashish. Ashish came instantly awake and started the car while Lisa grabbed her knife and poked at the creature’s big eye. It was too quick, but clamped its jaw around the top of the door where the window had been. Its teeth passed through vinyl, plastic and metal alike as it ripped a bite out of the door. It was trying to get at them when Ashish stepped on the gas and they sped off down the road.

The creature did not follow. Ashish screeched to a halt half-a-block away.

“Stay in the car,” Lisa said. She got out and got the beast’s attention as she emptied her gun. Three more night creatures arrived as the one full of bullets looked mad and charged. Lisa let loose with both barrels of the shotgun, then leapt to grab the space at the top of the trunk as she screamed.

“Drive!”

Ashish did not need a second telling. He slammed on the gas and Lisa’s arm was nearly yanked from its socket, but she held on. Immediately, the night creature slowed and turned back to the others of its kind.

Ashish stopped again and Lisa crawled into the back seat. She was cut up, her arm ached terribly, she was scared out of her mind, and as far as she could tell she did no damage at all to the creature, much less the other three. “Other four,” she reminded herself out loud. There was always the rear guard.

“Surely that one is mortally wounded and will soon die, unless you missed every bullet.” Ashish tried to sound reassuring as he drove a bit further away.

“I didn’t miss,” Lisa said as she sat up and reached for the radio. She had to hold it up with her left hand because her right arm was throbbing. She began to bark orders. Police all over Trenton turned out, and with some serious hardware. By the time they arrived back at the house, however, there was no sign of the creatures. Lisa was perplexed until the hair went up on the back of her head and she grabbed Ashish by the arm.

“I feel like Amina,” she said and ran to the house next door. A single mother lived there with her two children. There was only blood left, splattered everywhere. The same was true of the house next door on the other side. An elderly couple lived there. They were night creature food. The house in the middle, the expected target that was empty remained untouched, and Lisa began to cry.

Ashish found the note in pencil, written on paper from the phone pad and taped to the wall beside the door to the elderly couple’s house. It said, “My children were hungry.”

“Someone is controlling and directing them,” he said.

“And feeding them,” Lisa agreed.

************************

Next Monday, the girls begin Christmas vacation, though how anyone can rest with night creatures roaming g about is beyond me…

But with the holiday almost upon us, allow me to wish you Happy Reading.

Elect II—11 No Earthly Creatures, part 2 of 3

December 13, 2016December 4, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Emily paused in her reading. Maria was in her spot on the couch with papers and books spread all over the coffee table. Amina was in her chair with a book, but she looked ready to take a nap. Melissa had a math book out and was taking notes. Emily could not imagine why anyone would ever take notes out of a math book, but then she probably would not understand the math in that book, so it hardly mattered.

“Anyone find any extra doors around campus that might be open?” she asked.

“No,” Maria answered without looking up. “No doors to Avalon. And no apples from Avalon either.”

“Where is Avalon?” Melissa asked. She put the pencil in her mouth for a good chew.

“Long way,” Amina said.

“But we may never find the creatures that have escaped if we don’t find the door and close it,” Melissa said.

“Yes, I know,” Emily responded. “There’s trouble in the ranks, whatever that means.”

“Zoe’s Mystery,” Maria said. “It means the world is going mad.”

All four women spoke in unison. “Blah, blah, blah.” They went back to their studies.

###

Early on the last Tuesday morning before Christmas break, Mindy went down to the library sub-basement for her shift. She was feeling more frustrated than any of them. Every chance they got was spent looking for apples, looking for a door, and in Mindy’s case not finding anything about the circle with three squiggly lines. They did not talk about it. Days went by without mentioning it. Thanksgiving came and went and now it was nearly time for finals, the semester was almost over and they found nothing.

“How does Zoe expect us to find things that may be invisible or insubstantial?” Mindy complained.

“I don’t know.” Bill looked up from the desk opposite hers and shook his head; but Mindy was not finished.

“I mean, what good is a wise woman who doesn’t know anything? Really?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Bill responded. He stared at her, and at any other time Mindy would not have minded, but at the moment she was not in a good mood. She returned a mean stare and he opened up just a little. “I am the graduate student, but you are so far ahead of me on so many things, and you are just a sophomore. I mean, you eat ancient languages for breakfast.”

“I’ve always been good with languages. That doesn’t mean anything.”

“That means everything!” He shouted as much as a scholar can shout. “In two years you know more languages than I know in six, plus high school where I studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew because I was supposed to be the genius kid. And worse, you remember it all. It’s like we are all looking at the tapestry of life and enjoying the picture on the cloth. You can see the stitching and know just where one color ties off and the next begins. You are the most remarkable woman I have ever known.”

Mindy could not respond right away. She was too busy reveling in the fact that a young man called her a woman. She was short and perky and everyone else just referred to her as a girl. When she did respond, it was with sharp words. “Bill, quick. This way. Hurry.” She grabbed Bill’s hand and dragged him through several twists and turns around stacks and cases until she got to a spot on the wall where the pieces of a cabinet lay unassembled. She grabbed a six-foot dowel as Bill caught sight of what was following them. To his credit, he managed to maintain enough control of his tongue to ask, quietly.

“What the hell is that?”

“Orc,” Mindy answered as she shoved Bill behind her and held the dowel like a staff.

The orc paused at the end of the aisle. It stared at them through intelligent, malevolent eyes.

Mindy spoke in a language Bill never heard before, and she shifted her hands on the staff to show she knew how to use it without threatening the beast at the same time. The beast simply barred his teeth, his many sharp looking teeth, and growled in guttural sounds before it turned and walked off. Mindy was for going down the aisle to see if she could catch a glimpse of where it went, but Bill grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Listen first,” he said. “Maybe it is waiting for us.”

It sounded wise, but Mindy shook her head. “It had us cornered here. If it wanted us it would have taken us, or tried already.”

Bill nodded even if he did not quite believe it. “So what was that language you spoke? I didn’t recognize it.”

“Akkadian.”

“What?” Bill backed up a little. “No one knows how Akkadian is spoken. That is a matter for scholars to debate.”

“Well, that was Akkadian all the same,” Mindy said. “How do you think I learn all these languages? I hear it in my head as I read it. If I read enough, non-stop, I start to think in the language and have to make myself think again in English. I spoke Akkadian, and correctly since the orc understood me.”

“What?”

“The original language of the Amazons. I told the orc I belonged to Zoe and you belonged to me. I said if he harmed us he would have to answer to Zoe. He answered that he would go.”

“He answered?”

“Yeah, that growl and stuff. He answered in orc.”

“I belong to you? Bill took Mindy by the shoulders and turned her so she would face him. All Mindy could do was nod her head. “Wait a minute. He answered in orc?”

“Yeah. It’s sort of like Klingon but not as friendly.”

Elect II—11 No Earthly Creatures, part 1 of 3

December 12, 2016December 4, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Jessica and Latasha agreed on Saturday as the only feasible day to do it before final exams and Christmas break. It was not going to be easy following a trail that was a week old, but Jessica was content to make her test as hard as possible. After all, she was not sure she could follow a trail, even if it was freshly made.

Jessica had her WhAK, her newly named wicked army knife strapped to her belt. It stayed hidden beneath her jacket. What she could not hide well was the bow and arrows. She was not allowed a gun, nor did she want to get tagged for carrying a concealed weapon, even if she was nominally on police business. A bow and arrows, though, was still considered sports for the most part. She was not sure, but she imagined one did not exactly need a permit to carry those.

Latasha carried her ax that she got last year for use against the zombies. Detective Lisa had gotten a cover for it so it did not look like the weapon it was. All the same, Latasha carried it cradled in her arms like a weapon, or perhaps like a baby.

When they arrived at the strip mall with the multi-plex, Jessica first examined the side of the building. She was studying where the spider went up when a young man came out from the back of the building and pulled out a small knife.

“You two got money,” the man said. “Give it to me.”

Jessica looked at the man’s little excuse for a knife and really wanted to say, “That’s not a knife,” and pull out hers. She saw that once in a movie, but Latasha moved too swiftly. She twisted the man’s hand so the knife fell, and then she flat-handed the man in the chest so he crashed back against the side of the building and slid to his seat, moaning and shaking his head.

The girls turned to go to the front and Jessica spoke. “You make that look too easy.” Latasha just grinned.

They had a difficult time convincing the movie theater manager to let them up on the roof. They had to call Mitzy and she sent officer Dickenson to cover. With the police present, the manager conceded, though he considered making them get a warrant first because the lock to the roof hatch was a bear.

Once up, Jessica looked left and right and in three seconds she said, “Thank you. It went back down that way.”

Latasha and officer Dickenson were curious. They saw nothing until they went over to where Jessica pointed and saw a little bit of what could only be called webbing. The officer touched it, and it was still a bit sticky after a week. “How did you see that?” Dickenson asked. Jessica shrugged. She did not dare tell them she could still see the little spider footprints across the roof.

When they got back down from the roof, Jessica picked up the trail and never wavered for an hour and a half. They made their way all around the outside of the University. She was amazed at the signs she saw—things that Latasha never noticed. To her, they were obvious signs of spider passage. She seriously impressed herself, but then wondered once or twice if it would lead to the spider’s lair or if she was just seeing things because she wanted to.

When they got to the Hive, a fancy restaurant that doubled after nine as a student night spot with live, loud music, Jessica knew they were close and they called for back-up as instructed. Latasha pointed out the Channel 5, Eyewitness News truck parked at the restaurant.

“Liquid lunch,” Jessica suggested, but then she pulled her bow and arrows inside her jacket as well as she could so they would not be obvious or attract undue attention.

Dickenson came again and followed in his police car as slowly and quietly as he could through the back alleys until they were outside an old abandoned warehouse.

“I understand there were some major events in these back warehouses last year. I participated in the raid on the zombie lab,” Officer Dickenson whispered.

“Why are you whispering,” Latasha said in her regular voice, and then raised it. “I doubt spiders speak English.”

“No, but it might be a pet of something that does,” Jessica countered in a whisper. She was thinking of the bogyman last summer and his pet bogy beast. And then she added a word of doubt. “I could be wrong,” she said. Latasha touched Jessica on the arm and smiled her encouragement.

“Hold on,” Dickenson said. “I have something that might help here.” He went to the trunk of his patrol car and rummaged around for a minute. He pulled out a canister that was designed to work as a blow torch. Latasha wondered why a policeman would have such a thing in his trunk, but Jessica knew the man understood that this was no ordinary spider. Jessica got the bow off her shoulder and fit an arrow loosely on the string. Latasha kept her ax cradled and covered as she reached for the door knob. The door was unlocked, but when she opened it she found it was booby trapped. Webbing expanded at the door, caught Latasha and zipped her inside and into the dark.

“Latasha!” Jessica yelled, heedless of who might be listening. She waited while officer Dickenson burned away enough webbing for them to enter the room. The warehouse room was full of webbing, But Jessica hardly took a step before she called again. “Latasha!”

The answer was faint and distorted, like it was coming through soundproofing and trying to echo off the walls at the same time, but they understood. “I’m alright. It is just going to take me a few minutes to cut myself free.”

“Keep your eyes open for the spider!” Jessica hollered back.

“I wish it would come here. It would save me the trouble of trying to find it.”

“There’s confidence,” Dickenson said softly.

“The kind that might get her killed,” Jessica responded while Dickenson burned away more webbing. Three feet into the room and they came to an opening. It was a tunnel through the webbing and it looked like it led to a chamber of sorts.

“Welcome to my home said the spider to the fly,” Jessica whispered. They stepped forward, carefully, Jessica in the lead, when Dickenson shouted. Jessica turned and saw him lifted by a strand of web that came suddenly from above. Jessica bolted for the high-ceilinged chamber ahead and rolled just before a strand missed her and struck the ground. She figured the angle and fired her arrow with hardly a thought. She imagined it got tangled in the web above, but it was the principle of the thing.

Dickenson screamed from above. Latasha and Jessica both shouted to him, but he answered calmly. “No spider. No spider. I just ended up next to a shriveled mummy. Probably the remains of the night watchman.”

Jessica caught her breath. She tried to calm her nerves. But she had another arrow ready and never ceased to scan every direction she could. Something nudged her mind and she jumped. A second strand of webbing from above just missed her, and she spoke to the sky. It was the best way she could calm her nerves. “You won’t get me that way,” she said. She reached to her side and unsnapped her knife in case she needed it quickly. Then she wished Emily and the others were there. She did not feel confident that she could do this alone.

“I’m coming!” Latasha shouted back to Jessica’s words. Jessica hardly heard her because she heard some other words at her back and spun, her arrow at the ready.

“Who are?” it said in a voice that was in no way human. The spider had come down and was at the far side of the webbing cavern where its back was to the warehouse wall. It stood no more than two feet tall and most of that was furry legs. The body was about a foot in diameter, but the fangs looked plenty wide and plenty sharp, and the two big, round eyes looked able to see in every direction but the rear, and at the same time. They looked like little moon eyes—little red moon eyes.

Jessica thought something she never imagined thinking. Artemis, strengthen my arm and let this arrow strike true. She almost lost it when her arms moved without her volition. She was now pointing her arrow a foot above the creature and a bit to her left.

“I am Jessica, Amazon hunter.”

“No hunters,” the spider appeared to spit. “Hate hunters. Hunters kills.” Jessica let the arrow fly and the spider jumped. If Jessica had kept the arrow pointed where she had it, it would have passed harmlessly beneath the creature. As it was, her arrow struck the spider eye, perfectly. It sank into the beast a full three-quarters of the shaft, and it drove the beast back to slam into the back wall which Jessica was sure was not the creature’s intended path.

“Here I am,” Latasha landed, her axe and whole body covered in bits of white stickiness. Jessica pulled out her army knife. She was not sure the beast was dead, though it was not moving. Together, they began to inch forward. The spider charged. It jumped, but Latasha jumped just as high and brought her ax down between the fangs which split the spider head in two, even as Jessica’s army knife punched up and cut a long line in the belly of the beast. Jessica had to move quick to keep from being covered in spider guts, but when Latasha and the spider landed it was clear that this time the spider was dead.

“You did it.” Latasha immediately praised Jessica with her biggest grin.

“You finished it. You should get the credit for the kill.”

“No, you tracked it straight here and that arrow. How did you know it was going to jump? It was perfect. I didn’t know an arrow could hit that hard.”

Jessica just stepped up and hugged the girl, and then backed away with the sticky all over her front. “Eww!” Jessica could not help sounding like Jessica. Latasha laughed, so Jessica laughed. They had to release their tension somehow. Their laughter only increased when they heard Dickenson shout.

“Hey! Can somebody get me down from here?”

Elect II—10 Green People, part 3 of 3

December 7, 2016December 4, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Two hours later, when Professor Maynard failed to show up for her environmental science class, Jessica called right away. No one doubted any longer that all this was the work of Maynard and Orlov and their brain research. Jessica met Emily, Maria and Melissa at the campus center. Mindy opted to stay with Amina, her roommate.

Maria griped as she sipped her latte. “Last year we spent half a semester looking for a hidden zombie lab. Maynard could be anywhere.” Melissa nodded. Emily thought hard about it but imagined Maria could be right. The lab could be anywhere. Jessica got on the phone. Five minutes later, someone called Jessica back. She covered the phone to speak to the group.

“CDC lab is in the annex to the engineering building, right next to the physics department robotics lab.” She eyed the stares of the others while she said good-bye and hung up. “Hey, there are ways to hunt other than traipsing through the woods, you know.”

The annex was quiet in the morning. Half of the ground floor was given over to super computers and not a lot of people in any case. There were a number of rooms in the other half of the ground floor, but as Jessica pointed out, only one mattered.

“This one has a sign. CDC Immunization Study, Professors Orlov and Maynard.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Even I could have found that one.”

The door was locked. Melissa thought she might work the lock by magic but Emily was not for waiting. Amina was back at the suite in tears over Joel. Emily kicked open the door.

Maynard was inside, looking at a printout of a slide in the electron microscope. She was not startled by the crash of the door, but she did pause to look up. “Oh, girls,” she said. “I am glad you are here.” She stepped up to put a lab table between them. “I need some volunteers and you would be perfect.” She looked confused for a second before she found a test tube filled with a pinkish liquid. She put a stopper in the test tube, picked up an eye dropper and smiled.

“Volunteers for what?” Maria asked.

“Maria, and Emily.” Maynard acknowledged them. “I remember you from last semester. And Jessica from this semester.” She pointed at Melissa. “I don’t know you, but no matter. It is good to have help with these sorts of things.”

“What sorts of things?” Maria tried again as Jessica inched toward one side of the lab table and Emily inched toward the other side.

“The trouble, you see, is transmission. I could infect individuals by injection and achieve the desired effect, but I could not make them contagious. I needed to study the two-day incubation period thoroughly. Professor Orlov helped with that, but I need to do more work before anything can be declared conclusive.”

“Yeah,” Emily paused. “Where is Professor Orlov?” Both Maynard and Jessica pointed at the next table where something was covered by a sheet.

“Dissected, I presume,” Maria said to try and regain Maynard’s attention.

“Thoroughly,” Maynard admitted. “I hated to do it. I hate to hurt living things, but I decided the ends do justify the means after all.” She carefully pulled off one glove and pulled up a gun that was hidden beneath some papers. “Mister Orlov brought it with him. I hate guns, you understand. Guns kill people. So do be good and allow me to administer a drop or two on the tongue. It won’t hurt. I promise.” Emily and Jessica were at the corners of the table, but stopped in the face of the gun.

Maria continued her questions. “What did you hope to accomplish here?”

Maynard frowned, an indication that she was frustrated, had little patience or perhaps was just exhausted from little sleep, but the girls were unmoving, so she explained. “This summer I will be meeting at a conference with environmentally conscious leaders from all over the world.”

“Gonna spike the punch bowl?” Jessica asked.

“No, that would dilute the dose and make it unworkable. It is a delicate bacterium I have made. Too much water will wipe it out, especially the chlorinated and fluoridated water they have around here. I learned that early on, the hard way.” She rolled her eyes. “I have had to work hard to get it to survive a normal mouth of moisture, I hope. That was why I could not administer it orally at first. Now, a couple of drops on the tongue should suffice to get it into the system and the blood. When the people at the conference return to their homes all over the earth and for the next two days, whomever they breathe on will be infected. You see, I believe I have made it so once it bonds with the blood it will be able to be airborne for a short distance. It will pass from person to person and soon be a plague like no other in history. My computer estimates suggest it will take six to ten years to infect the entire human race, and all beginning with this little vial.” She shook the tube of pink liquid.

“Aren’t you afraid it will get on your hands?” Melissa was spooked by the whole idea.

“No, it won’t transmit through the skin, unless you have a cut or something. You will just have to wait and breathe it in.”

Emily took another step despite the gun. “I thought you said you did not like to hurt anything. What about killing the entire human race?”

Maynard pointed the gun in Emily’s direction. “Silly. I won’t kill anyone. I will fix them. In one stroke I will wipe out all tears, all grief and sorrow, all pain and torment. People will just go back to being the animals they were always meant to be.”

“But without our superior brain, we will never survive,” Emily said.

“Maybe so. But the earth will be healed. The earth will survive. Don’t you want to save the planet?”

“Not like that,” Jessica said and took a step.

As Maynard hesitated, being unable to point the gun in both directions at once, Maria said, “Over here.” She found Maynard’s eyes and gun focused on her and she ducked. Emily and Jessica jumped. Melissa wiggled her fingers as the gun went off.

“Don’t drop it. Don’t drop it.” Maria yelled up from beneath the table.

“It’s not orange soda. I’m not going to drop it,” Melissa said as the vial floated to her hand which was covered by a glove no one noticed she had slipped on.

Emily hit the professor a little harder than necessary. Jessica found some duct tape to tie her up. Maria found an oversized specimen container, one that came with a lid. She filled it with tap water while Melissa carefully poured the pink liquid into it and then thought to drop the whole test tube in.

Maynard was not quite unconscious, but when she realized what they were doing, she tried to scream through the duct tape.

“Now the notes,” Maria said and she immediately got on Maynard’s computer and started to type.

“Wait, don’t you think Julie Tam might want a look at the notes? Maybe they can find a cure.” Melissa suggested.

“One hard copy only,” Maria said. “But keeping it on any computer that might be hooked up to the web is too dangerous. I could use your help.” Melissa nodded and got on the other terminal. She thought suggesting Julie was the right thing to do, but the idea of a mindless, helpless humanity really frightened her, especially after her experience last year with Abby the witch.

“We need to trace all her contacts to see if she stored info somewhere else or e-mailed the experiment to someone,” Melissa added.

Emily was on the phone with the police and with Julie Tam that very moment.

Jessica stomped her foot. When everyone paused to give her their attention, she whined. “Now I have to really study for my environmental science final. I can’t just blame people for everything and expect to get an A. It’s like last year, Ms Farmer in art history dying again right before finals. And I sucked up so hard, too.”

************************

Next week we get to meet No Earthly Creatures as Latasha and Detective Lisa have their turn. Until then, Happy Reading.

Elect II—10 Green People, part 2 of 3

December 6, 2016December 2, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Monday morning, Doctor Singh met with the new hire in the biology department.

“Doctor Assur, it is good to have you on the staff at last,” Professor Singh was clearly delighted. Doctor Assur merely looked around the small office and saw that it was at least a corner office.

“Who had this office?”

Professor Singh knew the question would come up. “Doctor Hilde, Biochemistry. He got involved in the Pentagon project last year and is no longer with us.”

“Is there money?”

“Well, yes, some. The school has a research reputation. There is some NSF money. Orlov and Maynard have some CDC money,” Professor Singh paused and understood. “Oh, there is a small budget. You can give me the expenses for furniture and such, and as long as it is not extravagant, I am sure the university will reimburse you.

“What about quiet?”

“Oh yes. This year all is quiet. Orlov, Maynard, myself and the others are very quiet people.”

“Good. Now if only we could get the students to shut-up, right?”

Professor Singh tried to smile.

###

Monday evening, Maria and Emily cornered Professor Orlov. He seemed in a hurry, but they handed him the papers before he could escape. They had discussed it and determined that Orlov and Maynard were the most obvious suspects, and maybe the only suspects.

“From the coroner’s office,” Maria said.

“Apparently there are a number of mindless young people rampaging around the woods behind the parade ground,” Emily added.

“The baseball field?” Professor Orlov wanted to be sure he knew where she was talking about. “What do you mean, mindless?”

Maria pointed to the papers, and the professor took a minute to read. He said only one thing while he was reading, and it was softly spoken, like he was not aware he said it out loud. “No,” he said. “That’s not right.” He looked up at the girls and waved the papers. “Mind if I keep these. I need to examine the findings closely and check out a couple of things.”

“No, fine. We were hoping you might help us track down what might be happening.” The professor grabbed his briefcase and shot out of the room in a hurry and without another word.

“I would say we got his attention,” Maria said. Emily just nodded. The janitor was there and he wanted to close up the science building for the night.

###

As the light broke above the horizon on Tuesday morning, Amina brought a troop of police armed with dart guns into the forest behind the parade ground. Melissa went with her, as she said, for moral support.

“No one is making a record of this?” Melissa had to ask. Her magic would not show up on camera except in the effects, but Melissa was mostly shy when it came to magic in public.

Millsaps answered. “Any blabbing to reporters is grounds for dismissal.” He moved several yards away from the girls. It was not really what Melissa was asking, but it was good to know.

“Jessica would be better at this,” Amina was not keen on the idea of getting too close to the mindless ones.

Melissa shook her head. “We know where they are, just not exactly where or how many.”

“You can’t catch it if they bite you, can you?” Officer Rob Parker asked. He was assigned to stay with the girls.

“No, they are not zombies, I mean like in the movies,” Melissa answered. “Julie and Maria have ruled out any danger to us all, unless one of us is tempted to eat one of their brains, we can’t get contaminated.” Melissa picked her boots way up against the grass which was still tall despite the winter. She watched her steps and so she did not see the look of disgust that crossed Officer Parker’s face at the idea of eating someone’s brains. She also bumped into Amina when Amina stopped suddenly.

Amina shook her head. “I cannot see them well. It is like they are an empty space in the world that should not be there, like they are absent and that makes a hole.”

“What?” Millsaps stepped over to hear. The whole line of police had stopped.

“The space is behind those trees and up in the trees. They are becoming active with the light. Please. I don’t want to look anymore.”

Millsaps nodded. “Stay here.” He waved to both sides of the police line and pointed to the trees and also pointed up in the trees. They started forward. Amina, Melissa and officer Parker watched, and listened.

Very quickly there were screams and screeches and howls like howler monkeys defending their territory. Amina knew a few would break through the police line and she dreaded finding her way to those last mindless souls. Their very existence scratched against her senses like coarse sandpaper. She feared if she examined them too closely she might start to weep and not be able to stop. She could not identify them, who they once were, and that, at least, was a blessing.

Her thoughts were interrupted when two of them came rushing out from the trees and headed straight toward them. Officer Parker got to one knee to be sure he struck his targets. He squeezed the trigger twice, slowly, and the mindless ones staggered, stumbled, and went down like the tranquilized beasts they had become.

Amina drew in her breath and looked to the side as she felt another one. Melissa had him. She had her hands up and one hand sweated around her wand. The young man looked frozen in place and would remain that way as long as Melissa’s strength held out. Rob Parker squeezed off another shot and the young man’s eyes rolled up and he fell to the grass even as Amina screamed.

“Joel!”

Elect II—10 Green People, part 1 of 3

December 5, 2016December 2, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Sunday evening, Julie Tam, the Chief Medical Examiner stood at the head of the room. She had slides. Lisa and Ashish sat in the front row with Emily and Priestess Sara. Lisa and Sara were getting along great, though Lisa was ten years older. Melissa, Maria, officer Rob Parker and officer Millsaps sat in the second row. Millsaps said he was protecting the coffee and donuts. Mindy, Amina, Jessica and Heinrich Schultz sat in the third row. Mitzy from the police desk was behind them but just to take notes. Latasha came in late, two girls in tow, grabbed a coffee and donut and sat in the fourth row beside Mitzy.

Jessica whispered to Heinrich. “I usually sit back in the third row in class. The ones up front get called on.” Heinrich nodded, but hushed her as Julie saw Latasha come in and immediately got everyone’s attention. When Mitzy got the lights turned off, Julie put up the first slide.

It was a row of bodies in the morgue, all young men and all pale. “There is no blood in them,” Julie said without emotion. “But I found traces of what for a time I thought was arsenic, the same as I thought killed our Janet.” Julie acknowledged Latasha who looked stoic about it. “Then I found this.” She went through three more slides and all showed a two-fanged bite mark on the bodies.

“Vampires?” Melissa asked softly, her voice trembling.

“Not vampires,” Emily and Lisa spoke together.

“It looks to me like a spider bite,” Julie said as she took a ruler to the white wall. She put it up as if to measure between the fangs. “But my measurements suggest that if it is a spider it is bigger than any on earth. The poison imitates arsenic. It is quick and final, and then my guess is the spider has lunch on the victim’s blood.”

“Go back to the first slide.” Lisa waved at Julie. She clearly saw something.

Julie nodded and when she arrived, Lisa pointed. “Carl Weathers and Leon Johnson. They are all drug dealers, and local.”

Ashish spoke up. “If we can get all the names, we might narrow down the exact area.”

“I know all of them,” Latasha whispered. Ashish heard and nodded in her direction.

Julie understood that they would get the information from Latasha later and prepared to move on to the next topic. She looked grim. “This next slide is gruesome,” she warned them and flipped forward again to the correct slide. It was a living room, but one covered in blood, and the blood was splattered everywhere, most noticeably on the walls and around the fireplace. Julie took her ruler and pointed out several things as she spoke. “A leg bone, part of a skull from a six-year-old, and the chewed bone from a forearm. This creature or these creatures do not appear to be interested in blood one way or the other. In the first house we found almost nothing but blood. This is the third, and they all appear to have happened after Thanksgiving. In the first house, the turkey was still on the table, untouched.”

Julie went to the next slide. It was hair samples, coarse and golden. “Whatever kind of animal this is; it does not appear to match any animal known on earth.” Heinrich sat up straight and put his hand out as if trying to touch the hair through the slide before he spoke.

“I have heard of this kind of thing only once.” Heinrich pulled his hand back. “Night creatures. But I was not involved and I have no clear idea how it ended. I might be able to confirm it if I can see the samples.” He turned to Mindy. “Set animals.”

Mindy nodded. “Big surprise they are not a myth.”

Lisa turned around to Mindy. “Can you get me pictures?”

Mindy nodded again. “And whatever information I can surmise. That should not take long. There is not much information.”

Meanwhile, Julie was at the computer getting into a different program. “This last is most disturbing of all,” she said as she played the video. “Recorded by a pedestrian on his phone. This just came in yesterday.” It was a half-dozen boys and three girls all bouncing around the base of a tree by the little woods that grew at the back of the parade ground. The photographer was standing on the parallel street.

One boy began to climb the tree, and the others followed. “The man said they were all screeching and howling like a bunch of animals.” Julie talked over top. “He said he knew college kids could sometimes act strange, but this seemed extraordinary. None of the kids ever spoke a coherent word.” At the top of the tree, two young men began to fight, like it was some contest to see who could touch the very top first. There were no punches or such things. It looked through the poor quality video like they were slapping and scratching each other. Then they fell. One went straight to the ground and hit hard. The other appeared to crack his back on a big branch before he slid off and finished the journey. The video cut off and Julie paused the recording.

“The man called 9-1-1,” Julie said. “The one who hit the branch died. The one who hit the ground spent all of yesterday in the hospital, strapped down. I did an autopsy on the one that died. I found his brain, all but the cerebellum, the lower, animal portion, was atrophied. My suspicion is a virus, possibly some new kind of plague. The staff and I were careful not to touch the brain unprotected. None of us have shown any symptoms. My guess is the disease, if that is what it is, cannot be caught through the air. How it came to infect these students is beyond me.”

“The brain atrophied?” Maria asked.

“Yes. Completely non-functional. All centers of memory, logic, thinking if you will, were useless. The man is for all practical purposes no more than an animal.” Julie turned the video back on, and it was a much better recording of the young man in a hospital bed, growling, howling, yanking and tugging on his straps. “The man bloodied himself trying to escape. Two nurses were touched by the blood. They are in isolation, quarantine just to be safe. Meanwhile, all they have been able to do for the poor young man is keep him sedated. We might have to keep him in a cage eventually, for his own protection as well as ours.”

Jessica had her hand up. “I saw three students like that,” she said, and everyone turned to her. “I came out of environmental science and three of them were screeching and bouncing around a small fire made with twigs. I thought they were playing caveman or some stupid college thing, but when I came up close, they ran off.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Maria asked.

Jessica shrugged. “College kids do act strange sometimes. But then one of them should have been in Maynard’s class. I told her she missed class, but she just shrieked at me.” Jessica shrugged. “Maynard makes me shriek sometimes, too.”

“There is a connection there.” Amina said as the video finished and Mitzy turned the lights back on.

“I feel it too,” Emily said quietly, and thought about her encounter with the pajama man. Maria spoke to Julie.

“Professor Orlov is teaching anatomy and physiology. Do you have some notes we could share with him?”

Julie smiled as she got the copies of her notes. She came prepared.

“Latasha?” Lisa spoke up.

“If there is a giant spider terrorizing my neighborhood, I am going spider hunting.” She turned to look at her friends. They did not seem too keen about that idea.

“I have the night creatures,” Lisa said, but she assumed as much before the meeting began. “Latasha, if you find the spider, don’t go it alone. Get back-up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Maybe I could help you track it,” Jessica offered. “Being a hunter has to be good for something.” Everyone talked about the spirit of Artemis in her, like it was some special power or something, but Jessica could not see it. This would be a test, a private test for Jessica to see if that spirit of Artemis meant anything or not.

Elect II—9 Clues, part 3 of 3

November 30, 2016November 14, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Latasha went to the movies with Wendy and Mini, and she did not ask Keisha if she wanted to come along. Keisha was not speaking to her. Somehow, Keisha twisted things to the point where she blamed Latasha for Janet’s death. If Latasha just let Janet have her boyfriend. If she did not make Janet feel so guilty into revealing the drug deal in the parking garage. If Latasha had not become such a righteous ass, thinking she was going to join the police force, Janet would still be alive.

Latasha explained in her most exasperated voice. “It was the bad guys who killed Janet. Why do you want to keep me from putting the bad guys in jail?” But Keisha would not listen, so Latasha went to the movies with Wendy and Mini.

The movies were a safe place. The girls could talk or just watch the film, depending on how things worked out. They were not stuck at someone’s house with potentially awkward silences. Wendy and Mini wanted to see if they could still be friends with Latasha, and Latasha needed to find out the same thing. It turned out, freshman year off made little difference. They slipped back into the same relationships and even laughed when they remembered the same jokes they used to laugh at. It was good.

Of course, all through grade school, Wendy and Mini, Janet, Keisha and Latasha were all friends. Wendy and Mini only started to back away during middle school when Wendy decided she wanted to be a lawyer and Mini thought she might be an accountant, like her father. Now that Latasha had some direction and her grades were improving, Wendy and Mini were open to being friends again. Latasha was glad until on the way out they heard the scream

Latasha ran toward the scream. Wendy and Mini hardly knew what else to do, so they followed. It came from around the corner at the dark end of the parking lot. Latasha found a man, dead. He was about twenty-eight, dark hair, looked Hispanic, and there were little packets of drugs on the blacktop all around. Latasha guessed she startled whatever was going down.

When Wendy and Mini arrived, Latasha found her eyes drawn up the side of the building. Someone, or something appeared to be climbing directly up the brick side of the movie theater. She could not be sure. It was all in shadows before the movement topped the building and disappeared.

Latasha got out her phone and called Detective Lisa. She left a message and called Mitzy at the police station to send a car, and an ambulance to pick up the body.

“We can’t wait around for the police,” Wendy started to back away.

“I thought you wanted to be a lawyer?” Latasha came right back.

“I do, but—.”

“Then you better get used to the police,” Latasha said and she looked at Mini.

Mini put her hands up. “Dominica always sticks with her friends. You don’t mind if I hide behind you when the police show up.” Latasha did not mind. Wendy just frowned as a patrol car came roaring in, lights on.

It was officer Dickenson, a young and well-built African-American male who made Wendy and Mini smile and who tied Latasha’s tongue in knots the one time she met him. “Latasha.” He recognized her right away, or Mitzy told him.

“Here.” Latasha pointed at the body. “I got pictures for Detective Lisa, I mean Detective Schromer.” She held up her phone.

Dickenson nodded and knelt by the body. The man was definitely dead. “I don’t get it,” he stood. There were cocaine packets all around the body, and money, too. “A dealer, carrying and it is all just left here.”

“I think we interrupted the deal,” Latasha said.

“Any idea which way the perp. went?”

Latasha pointed up the side of the building while she spoke. “And I am not sure it was human.”

“You called Schromer?” Latasha nodded and Dickenson also nodded as he stepped to his car to report in. “Good, because she deals with all that spooky stuff.”

###

Emily got up extra early. She was going to drag the ROTC freshman on a five-mile jog. All she had to remember was to not set as wicked a pace as she did last time. Last year she nearly killed a couple of poor sophomores. For her, a five-mile jog, even in full pack was no big deal, but even practically walking, most of the freshmen would come in huffing and puffing and collapse to the dirt. She imagined Jessica and her team would do well enough. They had gone early to stretch and get warmed up.

Emily stepped outside when it was still dark. The walkway lights were on, and she spied two women in jogging outfits no doubt trying to get rid of last night’s supper. Eat too much and then jog it off was not a good plan, Emily thought. Fortunately, that was one problem she would probably not have to worry about for some time. She had the same high metabolism Latasha had, she just did not show it like Latasha in the constant tapping of her toes and drumming of her fingers.

Emily pushed a hand through her hair as she caught another sight. There was a guy in his pajamas, barefoot in the cold of December in New Jersey. Apparently he was not concerned that his fly was wide open, his shirt was torn and he was in danger of losing his pants altogether. He got in the way of the joggers and grunted. He grabbed the hair of one and put it to his nose.

“Hey!” Emily shouted as the women yelled at the guy to leave them alone. They hurried off as Emily approached. The guy looked briefly at Emily like a deer caught in headlights, then he took off running into the dark. Emily wanted to chase him down and ask him what he thought he was doing, but she had to meet the freshman class. She tried to picture the guy’s face in her mind with the hope of recognizing him again if she saw him, but all she could really remember was the blank and empty stare in the guy’s eyes. It did not look right. Emily shivered in the cold. She had to jog to the gym to warm up.

************************

Next Monday, Emily, Latasha and Detective Lisa begin to pull some threads together. It appears they are dealing with more than one mystery. Don’t miss the Elect II-10, Green People, and…

Happy reading

Elect II—9 Clues, part 2 of 3

November 29, 2016November 14, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Ashish drove.

“Josh is scared and I don’t blame him,” Lisa said as she looked up from her paperwork. “First Emily and Sara see something, and I see something. Then the girls fight off a small army. Now, people are being eaten right in my neighborhood.” Ashish said nothing. He just sipped on his coffee, so she continued. “I know they call me the spooky lady. I deal with all the spooky stuff, but this is beyond the pale.”

“How so?”

“Last year, when the Pentagon ran that super soldier contest. I mean, even the zombies were scientific, more like Frankenstein monsters. Even the witch was human, the professor’s daughter. It was plenty spooky, but mostly rational—explainable up to a point. But this year, we are being overrun with orcs and trolls, ogres and elves. Apples are missing from Avalon, wherever that might be. A door needs closing and a mystery needs to be solved, and the girls have not got a clue. Oh, and an ancient goddess has come back from the dead.”

“I thought the gods were immortal.”

Lisa grunted before she added, “And people are being eaten right in my neighborhood.”

Officer Rob Parker waited by the door as Lisa and Ashish walked up. “It isn’t pretty,” he said, before he looked up at the noon sun and wrote something in his little notebook. There were already police everywhere, and Julie Tam was scooping up bits and pieces of bone to slip into plastic bags. Pictures were already taken, but there was little noise as everyone’s moved through the crime scene. Every word was in whispers. There was blood everywhere—on the couch, the rug, the walls and all over the fireplace.

“They were eaten,” Julie confirmed.

“Third one since Thanksgiving. And all less than a block from your house.” Ashish looked at Lisa. She looked ready to cry.

“I knew Helen Monteri. She had nice kids.” Lisa pulled out her phone and stepped back outside into the light. An hour later she phoned home. “Josh? You know the trip we talked about taking to Florida? Well pack yourself and the kids. I got you all booked on a flight before sundown. No. You need to go and I don’t want to argue about it. No. The Monteri family got eaten. Yes, eaten.”

Lisa glanced over by the curb where a strong light came on to eliminate the shadows. It was the news reporter, Courtney Chase. Millsaps had her and was giving an official police statement. Lisa trusted Millsaps’ discretion, but meanwhile she thought it wise to back into the shadows of the closest tree and keep her voice down.

Another hour later, Lisa put her phone away. Ashish was right there.